A Deeper Listen

Before Seattle's Duff McKagan went on to become the bassist for Guns N’ Roses and before Seattle’s Mother Love Bone started influencing the city’s grunge sound, there was The Living. It was an early 80’s Seattle punk band made up of a teenage Duff McKagan on guitar, Greg Gilmore (of Mother Love Bone) on drums, Todd Fleischman on bass, and John Conte as the band’s fron...

London Grammar frontwoman Hannah Reid talks about how misogyny in the music industry inspired her band’s latest album, 'Californian Soil.' “I just encountered a lot of what I would call daily sexist assumptions and microaggressions,” Reid says.  She also talks about nearly giving up on music, how burnout led to her developing fibromyalgia, which causes fatigue and pain all o...

When Tune-Yards first hit the scene with their 2009 album, 'Bird-brains,' you could hear that some songs pulled sounds, melodies and rhythms from African music traditions. Their 2018 album, ‘I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life,’ was written after frontwoman Merill Garbus took a six-month workshop on race. You can hear the effects of that workshop on the track, “Colonizer.&r...

It’s been one week since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three charges for the killing of George Floyd. Larry Mizell Jr. was DJing live on KEXP the moment the verdict came down last Tuesday. Here’s his essay reflecting on the day, the death of George Floyd and many other Black lives, through music. Read Larry's essay here . Support the show: http...

Sharon Van Etten has just released 'epic Ten,' a double album celebrating the tenth anniversary of her 2010 release, 'epic.' The release features both the original record and an LP of covers by Fiona Apple, Big Red Machine, IDLES, Courtney Barnett with Vagabon, Lucinda Williams, and more. KEXP’s Cheryl Waters talks with Sharon Van Etten about ‘epic Ten' and has her break down some of t...

Japanese Breakfast frontwoman Michelle Zauner discusses her new memoir, 'Crying in H Mart.' In the book, she beautifully illustrates how she has dealt with the grief of losing her mother by cooking Korean food, and how her understanding of her mother has evolved since her death. She also discusses the complicated nature of being mixed race, and how she's found a sense of belonging through her arti...

We're taking a week off from posting podcasts and other online content, but you can always find a live DJ streaming on KEXP.org, the KEXP App, or 90.3 FM in Seattle. New episodes will return to your Sound & Vision feed on Tuesday, April 20th! Until then, visit old episodes or explore our other podcasts, Song of the Day, Live on KEXP, and The Weekly Mix. And if you haven't had the chance yet, t...

If you want to understand the impact of major labels on the music industry, look no further than a recent article in Wired titled, “ Big Music Needs to Be Broken Up to Save the Industry .” It covers how corporate power has taken over streaming, recording, ticketing and music venues. Author Ron Knox breaks down the history behind the music economy and its impacts, as well as possible so...

Emily Fox discusses Brandi Carlile’s new memoir, ‘Broken Horses,’ with KEXP volunteer and mega Brandi Carlile fan, Bee Egan. They discuss themes from the book, like the power of Brandi's vulnerability, how she came into her identity through music and performance, and her chills-inducing 2019 Grammys performance, as well as Bee's personal connection to the artist. Support the show...

Spotify recently launched a website and initiative called  Loud & Clear . It’s Spotify’s attempt at being transparent about how artists are paid and the economics of streaming. The Union of Musicians and Allied workers have been calling for greater transparency at Spotify along with a request to stop court battles that lower royalty rates for songwriters, and to pay artists on...

As we wrap up Women's History Month, Emily Fox and KEXP DJs Morgan Chosnyk and Eva Walker break down the stories and songs behind the top three most played women artists on KEXP during March: Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast and Noname.  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KEXP recently celebrated Transit Operator Appreciation Day. There’s one transit operator in particular that has touched the life of KEXP’s Larry Mizell, Jr. It’s Reggie “Smiley” Wilson. He’s hilarious and humble, he sings on the job, cracks jokes, shares words of wisdom and always drives with a colorful sign that says “Smile.” “The best thing t...

March 20th marked the one-year anniversary of Bandcamp Fridays. Once a month, Bandcamp has been waiving its 15% share on digital music and 10% share on artist merch to help support artists during the pandemic. Josh Kim, COO of Bandcamp, talks about the impact of holding Bandcamp Friday every month for the past year.  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

SoundCloud is rolling out a new payment method for artists on its platform on April 1st called “fan-powered royalties.” Instead of artists being paid according to their share of overall streams on the platform, listeners’ ad revenue and subscription fees will go directly to the artists they listen to. SoundCloud’s Head of Rights Administration and Strategy, Michael Pelczyns...

Musicians have been making millions of dollars in recent weeks for auctioning off their music in the form of an NFT (Non-Fungible Token). Grimes made nearly $6 million in 20 minutes doing it, EDM artist 3lau has made more than $11 million and Kings of Leon just released a full album as an NFT.  Chase Danzig joins this episode to fill us in on how NFTs work. He runs a YouTube channel called &l...

Sound & Vision’s mini-series, Apparently, explores the intersection of parenthood and being a musician. For this next artist, he’s also struggled with addiction on top of it all. Pearl Nelson, also known as Pearl Dragon of the band Champagne Champagne, talks about idolizing Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, falling into addiction on tour, and his path to recovery. He also discusse...

Sound & Vision’s mini-series, Apparently, explores the stories of musicians and performers who are juggling parenthood with their art. Today we meet Reese Umbaugh, who’s known on the drag stage as Cookie Couture. Cookie made headlines in 2019 for "Drag Queen Story Hour" at the Des Moines Public Library. Off the stage, Umbaugh mentors youth and has fostered 16 kids in the past decad...

Sound & Vision is launching a new mini-series called Apparently where two new mothers, KEXP DJ Evie Stokes and KEXP Drive Time Producer Rachel Stevens introduce us to folks who are juggling being musicians and parents. Today we hear from Grace Love about her journey of becoming a solo artist and a single mother at the same time.  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudi...

Bam Bam was a Black woman-fronted grunge band in Seattle in the early 80s—before grunge was a defined genre. Larry Mizell Jr. tells the story of Bam Bam and the life of frontwoman Tina Bell. He also explores why we’ve never heard of this group before and why their story has been erased from Seattle music history. Then, KEXP Audioasis DJ and The Black Tones frontwoman Eva Walker leads a...

Adrian Younge is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer who has just released an   album and a podcast for Black History Month. The album is called 'The American Negro' and the podcast is called 'Invisible Blackness.' The first track of the album, "Revisionist History," gets at the mission statement throughout the project: revising history to represent the real narratives around Black...

Femi and Made Kuti are the descendants of Fela Kuti—the pioneer of Afrobeat. They are carrying on the family tradition and have put out a double album together as father and son. They talk about their work, their family's music legacy and the issues of corruption and historical impacts of colonialism still felt in their home of Nigeria today.  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/soun...

February is Black History Month, but here at KEXP we're celebrating what we are calling 'Black History is Now.' Instead of relying on the music of legacy acts like those involved with Motown or the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, we are celebrating the artists who are making music and art today. KEXP’s web team got together, and each wrote an essay on Black artists they are gravitating to now. They w...

London-based TV Priest recently released their debut record, 'Uppers,' through Sub Pop. Vocalist Charlie Drinkwater discusses the album's reflections on social media, misinformation, pandemics, gentrification and fatherhood. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Langhorne Slim didn’t set out to write a record. He hadn’t written music in a year. At the end of 2019 he entered a program to tackle his issues with prescription drug abuse. Shortly after he came out of that program, a tornado struck his neighborhood in Nashville, then COVID-19 hit the nation. Trying to make sense of it all, Langhorne slim finally wrote a song. He was given the advice...

February 13 marks the 25th anniversary of the Fugees’ seminal album, 'The Score.' Fugees, short for refugees, was formed in New Jersey in the 90s and included Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel. They were known for original hits like “Ready or Not" and covers such as “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” KEXP will be celebrating the album's anniversary all day on Friday,...